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In all forms of entertainment, ideas get lost. Whether overlooked due to being in the “wrong” titles, ignored due to poor implementation or overshadowed by something much more hyped (and sometimes better too), these ideas are used only a few times and then lost to the ages. In gaming, this as true as it is elsewhere. Here I will analyse some of my favourites and lament their passing.

Mechanic: In Fighting
Notable Games: Doom, Doom II
Description: Why fight when there are those that will fight for you?

Why is this first? It was the inspiration for this article. It’s so simple, and so underused. Out of hell comes a flood of demons, devils and living dead guys, intent on the destruction of the human race. They’re bloodthirsty killing machines – so why would they only fight the player? We aren’t talking scriped sequences here, we’re talking an actual mechanic that means creatures will fight each other if they shoot each other. The most obvious example is the entire section of Level 8 – Tricks and Traps from Doom 2, seen below at roughly 3:33:

There are other places it is used – places it has to be used that are less obvious. On the harder settings it becomes a key part of the way you play. The possibilities it opens up are amazing – what’s cooler than facing off against a big badass boss? Making two of them fight eachother. What’s cool than wiping out a room of bad guys, single handed? Doing it without firing a shot.

There have been attempts of course – Bioshock’s Big Daddies and turrets come to mind (along with the 10,000 games with aliens vs. military), but it was all so more controlled. It wasn’t swarms of enemies fighting each other if you made them, it was set up events, designed to look cool but often with a predefined winner. Perhaps that’s part of the problem – the first person shooter has evolved from multiple, differing enemies to either a bunch of identikits with differing guns or a bunch of identikits holding different guns with alien backup.

An honourable mention should probably be made to S.T.A.L.K.E.R. and its randomly generated fights. It’s not quite the same thing but it’s along the right lines, though even more to the non-scripted side. This highlights another point – perhaps the mechanic has simply evolved into something altogether different: utterly scripted fights or random encounters with scripted interactions.

Is it even possible to ressurect this mechanic? I’d like to think so. I’m looking at you id, I’m looking at you and Doom 4.

Mechanic: Bugs
Notable Games: StarCraft
Description: Beneficial screw ups.

Anyone whos read everything else I’ve ever written has probably seen this pop up a few times – StarCraft, the most balanced, most competitive, most played competitive RTS in the world is only this way because of bugs in the game code. They play a vital role in two main components of the reasoning behind it being so popular: constantly varying metagame and a collosal skill ceiling. Discovery of every little trick adds an extra action that can be applied for differences, whether miniscule or immense. Workers go all noclip when they’re moving towards resources, units can move and fire (some can move backwards and fire), air units can move and remain “stacked” – it all adds up to massive advantages and changes in the way you play.

The interesting thing is that it’s perfectly possible this mechanic is as common as ammo counters and experience points – it’s just other games haven’t had an addicted community, which considers an entire nation to be only “the biggest section” of itself, relentlessly testing for eleven and a half years. Even if they are found, most developers patch them out – Team Fortress 2’s “uber saving” trick comes to mind.

And it’s hardly developable is it? If it’s kept, it becomes a feature, if not, a bug that was fixed; relegated to some ancient set of patch notes. Even StarCraft has banned bugs, the ones so game breaking they are disallowed in professional and ladder play, overseen by diamond-eyed referees. This is one feature I can almost guarantee we won’t see again – the nature of larger beta tests, bigger development studios, more Q&A and simply the differences between isometric engines and full-3D ones make it a thing of the past.

Mechanic: Brilliant RPGs
Notable Games: Deus Ex, Vampire: The Masquerade: Bloodlines (patched, naturally), Mass Effect
Description: The best of the best

Perhaps this doesn’t really fit here, perhaps I’m exploiting my topic to provide a rant on “games these days” or something. This section is devoted to when western RPGs get it spot on. Deus Ex’s plot, variable routes, two entire different sort of games. Vampire’s dialogue, voice acting and characters. Mass Effect’s brilliance in storytelling and cinematic moments.

Why RPGs you might say? Because it has become like some sort of super-genre. You have your “standard” Neverwinter Nights/Baldur’s Gate affair, your first person Oblivion/Fallout 3/Deus Ex, third-person, MMO, spaceships, Star Wars – even RTS, what with WarCraft III’s “commando” missions, StarCraft II’s campaigns and Dawn of War II’s MMORPG-like singleplayer. Games you would never expect to contain RPG elements (see: Wolfenstein) begin to have shop systems and open world hubs.

Notice my three main examples all had flaws. Deus Ex’s charm can wear off when you realise setting off most of the alarms means you just get to shoot everyone in the face, Vampire’s legendarily buggy release and Mass Effect’s repetitive mission structure (and the there-are-no-words-strong-enough inventory system). There were fixes for each of these – the player designed “challenges” (no guns), fan patches and … well just not doing them (and ignoring it), respectively.

Well, this is one “mechanic” we can hope we’ll see again. Dragon Age looks promising – though the way it was presented to the media is apparently worrying (a point I disagree with, but more on that at a later date). RPGs are always being made, so it’s inevitable that we’ll have another.

(NB: I know there are probably other games that could go into this, I just haven’t played them (Yes I haven’t played KOTOR (Yes I know, I know)))

Mechanic: Eve Online
Notable Games: …
Description: A single server, player controlled, PvP focused

Its only been done once, there isn’t another like it and the game itself may have lost part of that charm. It should probably be noted early on that I am certainly an Eve noob – I’ve played the game for a few weeks and I do enjoy it, but I’ve never taken part in any of the kind of events I’m about to describe. The source for most of my knowledge is RockPaperShotgun’s Jim Rossignol and articles he’s written/linked to in the past, along with friends of mine which enjoy the game.

That aside – Eve creates a near-perfect simulation of an event which has not occured in human history. You see the innate oxymoron, but would you disagree? Thousands of players, conducting warfare in a very traditional manner. Individuals are meaningless here, even the best ships are easy to take down in fleets of smaller, cheaper vessels. Direct combat is not the only means of destroying your opponent – espionage is equally useful, huge empires crumbling after clever manipulation by just one man.

The control players have over the universe is astounding – you can make cities, destroy what others have worked long and hard to create, influence the economy. The training system helps in this: specialising can go so far that it is now impossible to master everything. This is part of what creates that infamous learning curve, famously shown as a wall of death that flips back upon itself, complete with hangmans noose and spiked pits. But when you get it (and spend enough time there and you will), it’s a thing of beauty.

No other MMO is as much fun to read about – so much is possible. And perhaps, that is why, again, I fear we will never see the like again. The community for a game such as this is very small, and Eve has them all. Competitors also suffer from WoW Syndrome: CCP have a massive lead on any game released now. It is also almost completely dependant on the community to create an atmosphere that accepts going to a player’s house and cutting their power a valid tactic of PvP. This is Eve, suck it up.

I hope you enjoyed this opening of my mind. I hope to post something related but a little different tomorrow. If you enjoyed this, please spread the word and feel free to contact me via any of the options on the about page.

Tags: article, eve, RPG, starcraft, whatwemiss

This entry was posted on Wednesday, September 2nd, 2009 at 10:40 pm and is filed under Articles. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.